


Emergency Programme One

by merryghoul



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beaches, Episode: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace, Multi, Self-cest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:06:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4674587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/pseuds/merryghoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emergency Programme One goes off while the TARDIS is stationed on the <em>Madame de Pompadour.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Emergency Programme One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lah_mrh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lah_mrh/gifts).



> I was inspired by a prompt I saw at a now-dead comm that pondered (in much angrier terms than my paraphrasing, which is why I'm not linking to said prompt) what could've happened if the Tenth Doctor's statement that Emergency Programme One started after five hours (made in "Silence in the Library") applied to "The Girl in the Fireplace." This is what I came up with. I hope you like it!

After five hours stuck on the _Madame de Pompadour_ , the TARDIS doors opened without warning.

"Maybe the Doctor's coming soon," Rose said.

Mickey looked around the area they were in on the _Madame de Pompadour._ "I don't see him anywhere." He looked out the window in the area. "Don't you think you should wait?"

"He's always there for me. I believe he's coming. Let's go."

Rose and Mickey ran into the TARDIS. Once they were inside, the doors slammed shut. The TARDIS started to materialise off the _Madame de Pompadour._

"What's going on?" Mickey asked. "The Doctor isn't in here."

An image of the Doctor appeared in the TARDIS.

"Doctor?" Rose asked the image. "Where are you?"

"This is Emergency Programme One," the image said. "Rose? Mickey? I think Mickey's on board with you. Sometimes it takes a while for Emergency Programme One to update. Sarah Jane would know; ask her. Anyway, this is important. If this message is activated I'm either dead or I'm about to die with no chance of escape."

 

After Emergency Programme One activated and took Rose and Mickey back to London, the Doctor reappeared in the _Madame de Pompadour._ He looked around for the TARDIS. "Rose? Mickey? Rose?" He stopped walking around. "How long have I been away?" He looked out the window. "Five hours. Five hours? Emergency Programme One. It must have activated. London. Rose and Mickey must be headed to London. I've got to get back. But how?"

A TARDIS materialised in the _Madame de Pompadour._

"Ah! There she is. Welcome back, old girl."

The doors to the TARDIS opened. But the people--or, rather, person---who stepped out of it wasn't Mickey and Rose. It was the Doctor, the one in the leather jacket.

"Hello!" the Doctor with the jacket said. "I'm the Doctor. Who are you?"

"The Doctor," the Doctor in the suit said.

"Yeah, well, you can't be the Doctor. I just said I was the Doctor."

"Oh, but I am the Doctor. Scan me with your screwdriver."

The Doctor with the jacket scanned the Doctor in the suit. He blinked and stared in disbelief. "You are me."

"From the future."

"Why would I wear that horrible suit? Looks like you took it out of a dumpster."

"You developed much better taste when you regenerated," the Doctor in the suit said, pointing to his younger self. "Now, I'm going to need your TARDIS."

"Why do you need my TARDIS? I'm not gonna hand it over to you like..." The Doctor in the jacket snapped his fingers. "That."

"Emergency Programme One activated in my TARDIS. I think it's heading to a council estate in London. I've got to get my TARDIS back before it dies in London without me. And if I don't get my TARDIS back, the two of us might not exist anymore."

The Doctor in the jacket, his TARDIS, and the Doctor in the suit were fading in and out, as if they were the dying light of a lightbulb.

"We need to go now," the Doctor in the suit said.

"Well, get in here," the Doctor in the jacket said.

The Doctor in the suit stepped into the Doctor in the jacket's TARDIS. All three of them left the _Madame de Pompadour._

 

The Doctor in the suit started typing in the coordinates to the Powell Estate in the present day.

"Are you done tinkering with my TARDIS?" the Doctor in the jacket asked the Doctor in the suit. "You may know how to pilot it, but it's my TARDIS. My TARDIS, my rules."

"I have the coordinates to the location in London where my TARDIS is. This is an emergency. I wouldn't be complaining about my piloting right now."

 

The TARDIS that belonged to the Doctor in a suit materialised at the Powell Estate. The doors flung open.

"We're home," Mickey said. "You know what the hologram said. Get out of the TARDIS or you'll die in it."

"What about the animals?"

"Animals?"

"Yeah, animals. There's a zoo inside the TARDIS. I gotta go free them."

"The TARDIS is gonna lock you in. And where are the animals gonna go?"

Rose shrugged. "The London Zoo?"

"I don't want to die inside the TARDIS with the TARDIS, Rose. I'm leaving."

Mickey walked outside the TARDIS. As soon as he walked inside, the TARDIS doors slammed shut. It started to materialise away.

Mickey attempted to run back to the TARDIS, but by the time he got back to where it was, it was gone. All Mickey could do was to say Rose's name in vain, as if the TARDIS could hear him. 

 

Back on the TARDIS that belonged to the Doctor in a jacket, the coordinates changed, one symbol at a time.

"What's going on?" the Doctor in a suit said.

"You're breaking the TARDIS, that's what's happening."

"No, that's not what's happening. The TARDIS' coordinates are set for Florana. I specifically set them for the Powell Estate in London. The TARDIS is overriding me."

"Because she realises you're a hyperactive idiot, that's why."

"Me? A hyperactive idiot? Well, you're a grouchy sourpuss."

"You once were this grouchy sourpuss. How could you forget what we went through, what we did in our past? It's very hard to stay cheerful all the time with that in our minds."

"Well, we can't keep thinking about it forever. Move on, you."

The TARDIS stopped moving. The Doctors grew quiet.

 

Florana. In its past the planet housed a society of super geniuses doomed to collapse under their leader, a Dalek who had forgotten its identity. But in the present--at least in Rose's present--Florana was a favourite vacation planet for all sorts of planet-hoppers and time travellers. Rolling hills were present in every view of Florana's ocean. And the beach had pink, spongy coral as tall as dogwood trees and as wavy as cacti. 

It was here that the TARDIS that belonged to the Doctor with the jacket materialised in a parking lot close to the beaches of Florana. The Doctor in the jacket walked out of the TARDIS in a huff.

The Doctor in the jacket pointed at the Doctor in the suit. "You got us stuck on this leisure planet. It's going to be impossible to find any replacement part here. I bet the nearest place with any Type 40 parts is several light years away."

"Doctor?"

In front of the two Doctors was Rose. She was walking out of the TARDIS that belonged to the Doctor in a suit. She stopped walking. Her eyes widened. "Doctor? Why are there two of you?"

"He appeared with his TARDIS in the Madame de Pompadour," the Doctor in the suit said, pointing to the Doctor in the jacket. "I was trying to get back to my TARDIS using his TARDIS."

"Rose," the Doctor in the jacket said, "I swear I was going to go back for you."

"Oh no no no. This is _my_ Rose. She already knows who we both are. You're too late in her time stream. You probably should be going right now. Don't want to accidentally set off the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. It's bad enough we're both here. It'll be worse for him if we touch."

"The Blinovich Limitation Effect?" Rose asked.

"I'll tell you when he leaves. He hasn't experienced what we went through that could've triggered the Blinovich Limitation Event. Kinda stunned it didn't happen, actually."

"Doctor, you don't have to have to make him leave." Rose walked up to the Doctors. She took the right hand of the Doctor in the suit in her left hand. She took the left hand of the Doctor in the jacket in her right. 

"How did you get here?" the Doctor in a suit asked Rose.

"I was going to leave the TARDIS when I got home. But the TARDIS shut its doors while I was trying to get out. It flew me here. Guess it was to be with you two."

"Is Mickey okay?" the Doctor in the suit asked.

"He's okay. He got out of the TARDIS before the TARDIS flew here. I think he's wondering why the TARDIS left without him, but he's okay. So, we're here, your TARDISes are here, I'm here. Why don't we go on a vacation?"

"Rose," the Doctor in the jacket said, "you know better than to play around with the laws of time."

"Didn't you hear Rose?" the Doctor in the suit said. "Lighten up. We're on a vacation."

The Doctor in the jacket nodded. "You're right. Something would've happened by now if we weren't meant to be together. And I'm guessing I'm going to forget this sometime after this vacation."

The Doctor in the suit nodded. "Let's get ready for the beach," the Doctor in a suit said. "I should have a swimsuit that fits you in my TARDIS." He pointed at the Doctor in the jacket. "You should...oh, never mind. I know you. You'll wear that jacket even if it's a thousand degrees Celsius outside."

The Doctor in the jacket shrugged. "Why do I need to change?"

The Doctor in the suit pointed at the Doctor in the jacket. "You stay here, okay? Then we'll go to the beach."

The Doctor in the suit decided to put on swim trunks in his TARDIS, and Rose found a swimsuit she could wear. When they were done changing, the Doctor in the jacket was still waiting for them. The three of them headed for the Florana beaches, a long afternoon of relaxation ahead of them.


End file.
